A new law that allows local municipalities to restrict fireworks use on national holidays fails to go far enough, say officials in south Oakland County.

"It is inconsequential," Royal Oak City Manager Don Johnson said of a bill Lt. Gov. Brian Calley signed into law Wednesday. "Technically, we have the right to enforce (noise ordinances) but it is very difficult to enforce."

State Rep. Harold Haugh, D-Roseville, led the effort that legalized louder, more powerful fireworks in Michigan in 2012. But following a deluge of complaints statewide last year, Haugh worked to enact the new amendment that limits fireworks use to the day before, during and after a national holiday.

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The new amendment allows local governments to prohibit the use of fireworks between midnight and 8 a.m. in large counties of more than 750,000 residents, such as Macomb and Oakland. In smaller counties and cities the cutoff time for holiday fireworks is 1 a.m.

"The new amendment gives cities the right to prohibit fireworks 335 days a year," Haugh said. "Cities have always had the right to enforce noise and littering ordinances on those days, but it was a misunderstanding last year."

Despite the new limitations, local government officials say they are still stuck with what they describe as an incredible surge in fireworks use and noise nuisance since the more permissive law went into effect last year.

"It isn't just on the Fourth of July," Johnson said. "It goes on all summer."

Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter last year sent a letter to Haugh signed by the mayors of 10 south Oakland cities saying the more permissive fireworks law threatened the safety and quality of life in their communities.

Haugh said he incorporated that letter and considered hundreds of other comments in the bipartisan effort that amended the fireworks law.

"In Ferndale, the Fourth of July went from being a celebration to making the city sound like a war zone," Coulter said. "This new bill just doesn't go as far as I'd like."

Many were unaware that the state had changed the fireworks law and residents in Ferndale called the city upset and outraged over the sudden spike in fireworks use and noise, Coulter said.

The Fourth of July became a blitzkrieg of idiot noise for many in Coulter's hometown, as if the holiday were a celebration for the invention of the firecracker. The same scene played out in scores of communities statewide as thousands of sleep-deprived residents endured the explosive sounds and confused pets reacted with fear or aggression.

Haugh last year admitted the volume of high-grade fireworks shot off around the Fourth of July was more than anyone anticipated and there were calls to repeal the new permissive law altogether.

"This thing really threw us for a loop last year," said Royal Oak Mayor Jim Ellison. "To me it just opened the floodgates to all kinds of fireworks. Residents were upset these things were going off all the time and fireworks sales were popping up all over the place."

Ellison and Coulter both say the restrictions spelled out in the new law are at least a start to giving communities some control over noisy explosions.

"We'll see how it goes on the Fourth of July this year," Coulter said. "Everybody really got an earful last year."

Haugh originally moved to make the state's fireworks law more permissive to capture more tax revenue on fireworks sales. Michigan residents would buy more potent explosive devices in states such as Ohio and Indiana and return home to set them off.

"These fireworks were coming in before anyway and the state police had no way of stopping or controlling it," he said.